Bottle carrier



April 1950 J. T. CLORE 2,503,544

BOTTLE CARRIER Filed Oct. 4, 1948 QoHNTCLoRE fiwy ATTORNEYS PatentedApr. 11, 1950 BOTTLE CARRIER John T. Clore, Ionia, Mich., assignor to L.H. Withey Company, Ionia, Mich., a corporation of Michigan ApplicationOctober 4, 1948, Serial N0. 52,631

3 Claims. (01. 22445) This invention is directed to a very novel,simple, and practical bottle carrier, used for the holding and carryingof a plurality of the smaller bottles in which soft drinks arecontained.

It is an object and purpose of the present invention to provide a bottlecarrier which is of a sturdy and durable construction and may be reusedmany times. It is a further object of the invention to provide a bottlecarrier in which the plurality of bottles which it carries are quicklyand easily loaded therein, being vertically received in the carrier, thehandle which is grasped when the carrier and the bottles therein aremoved being turned to a horizontal position, in which position the sidesof the carrier spread apart for the ready entrance of the bottles. Afterthe carrier has been loaded, the handle is turned to a vertical positionwith an automatic inward drawing of the sides of the carrier at theirupper edge portions to grip the bottles and hold them snugly. A furtherobject of the invention is to provide a bottle carrier which when thehandle is in its vertical position and the bottles are gripped, thehandle in an upper position thereof extends above the tops of thebottles so that it may be grasped for carrying, but in another position,in which the handle is moved vertically downward, it is below or atleast flush with the tops of the bottles, permitting the loaded carriersand bottles therein to be stacked vertically one upon another. A stillfurther object of the invention is to provide a bottle carrier havingthe desirable features mentioned which may be manufactured economicallyand produced and sold at low cost.

An understanding of the invention may be had from the followingdescription, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, inwhich,

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of the bottle carrier of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof, and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary end elevation with the carrier shown in both itsloading and bottle gripping positions.

Like reference characters refer to like parts of different figures ofthe drawing.

In the construction of the bottle carrier, a plate of thin sheet metalis shaped with a horizontal bottom I of rectangular form and integralsides 2 extending upwardly therefrom. At each end of the body of thecarrier thus provided, are wire frames each having a horizontal bottomsection, from each end of which vertical sections 3 are bent upwardly adistance slightly greater than the height of the sides 2, each beingthen formed into beads 8 covering the vertical side sections 3 of theframe nearly to their upper ends. A secure and permanent connection ofthe endwise frames to the body of the carrier. is made.

The bottle carrier is completed by a handle of thin, fiat, bar sheetmetal. The bar of metal is formed into an inverted U-shaped bail, havingan upper horizontal hand engaging portion 9 and,

legs 10 at right angles thereto. Each leg Ill,

adjacent its free end, has a longitudinal slot,

l l cut therein. The hooks 6 are inserted through the slots II, as shownin Fig. 1, and the bottle carrier is complete.

In bending the sides 2 upwardly from the bot-,-

tom I, they are bent so as to normally extend at right angles therefromwhen free to do so. When the handle is in a vertical position, as inFig. 1, the two hooks of each of the wire frame ends of the bottlecarrier are drawn together by reason of the narrow width of the slots ll and the upper portions of the sides 2 are moved toward each other. Onswinging the handle to a horizontal position, in either direction fromits vertical position, the hooks B are permitted to move away from eachother and move to opposite ends of the slots H which are in horizontalposition as shown in dash lines in Fig. 3; and the sides of the body ofthe bottle carrier spring outwardly to vertical position as shown indash lines in Fig. 3.

The length of the legs [0 of the handle is such that when the handle isturned to horizontal position, the hand engaging portion 9 of the handleis located outwardly far enough so that at least its inner side is asfar out as the outer side of the carrier body side 2 below it. In suchposition, the carrier may be loaded by bottles introduced from above andmoved downwardly therein. The bottle carrier is fully open at the topand there is no interference in load- 'ing.

On turning the handle to vertical position, as in Fig. 1, and as shownin full lines in Fig. 3, the upper portion 9 of the handle issufiiciently above the tops of the bottles in the carrier that it may beengaged by the hand for carrying the bottle carrier and its contents.When the handle is moved bodily downward in a vertical direction, to thedotted line position shown in Fig. 3, the upper side 9 of the handle ismoved downwardly to a position below or at least flush with the uppersides of the tops of the bottles which are loaded in the carrier. Insuch position, a second carrier loaded with bottles may be stackedthereupon, and the stacking vertically of several of the loaded bottlecarriers done in the same manner so that in truck transportation,stacking of the loaded carriers to any desired height is readily done.

The bottle carrier of my invention is economically produced. The hooks 6are open for quick and ready assembly with the handle, and the bottomsof the hooks preferably will be as nearly at right angles to the sidesas may be done for facility in swinging the handle from horizontal tovertical position, or vice versa. The carrier being of metal is of asturdy and durable structure and may be reused for a long time.

The invention is defined in the appended claims and is to be consideredcomprehensive of all forms of structure coming within their scope.

I claim:

1. A bottle carrier comprising, a body having a rectangular bottom andgenerally vertical sides extending upwardly one at each longitudinaledge of the bottom, open end frames secured one at each end of said bodyand each including at the upper portion thereof, converging upwardlyincllned members adapted to meet at their upper ends substantiallymidway between the sides of said body and thereabove, said sides of thebody being drawn inwardly toward each other at their upper edge portionswhen the upper ends of said end frame sides are brought together andspreading apart at such upper edge portions when the upper ends of saidconverging sides of the end frames are free to move away from eachother, and a U-shaped handle having pivotal and slidable connections ateach end thereof with the upper end portions of said converging membersof the end frames, having means for drawing the upper ends of saidconverging sides together in one position of the handle and freeing themfor separation in another position thereof.

2. A structure as defined in claim 1, said end frames being of wire rodand the converging members thereof at their upper ends each having areturn bent hook, and said U-shaped handle having in each leg thereofadjacent its free end, a longitudinal slot, through which slots thehooks of the associated end frame members are connected with the legs ofsaid handle.

3. A bottle carrier comprising, a bottom of rectangular form, andintegral upwardly extending sides one at each longitudinal edge of thebottom, said sides normally, when free of restraint, being locatedsubstantially at right angles to the bottom, an open frame of wire rodhaving a bottom and generally vertical members permanently secured ateach end of the body to the ends of said bottom and sides of the bodyeach vertical member of each open frame above the upper edge of saidsides of the body having upwardly inclined converging extensions, eachterminating in a hook, and a handle comprising an elongated bar ofU-shaped form having spaced legs each having a longitudinal slotadjacent its free end, said legs of the handle extending between thehooks of said end frames with said hooks passing through the slots,whereby the handle may be turned between vertical and horizontalpositions and in vertical position may be bodily raised and loweredbetween two extreme upper and lower positions.

JOHN T. CLORE.

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